Tech’s touch

Worcester Technical High School has another feather in its cap, and this is a tall one made of copper and steel.

Students helped a Massachusetts artist create a stunning sculpture called “Integro,” which will be unveiled at the Fisher House in Boston at 11 a.m. today, the day before Veterans Day.

Fisher Houses, located around the country, provide military families a place to stay while injured servicemen and women go through rehabilitation.

The sculpture, with its reaching vines and steel butterflies, will be a focal point of the new healing garden at Boston’s Fisher House.

It’s also another showpiece of the abilities, competence and community spirit with which the school on Skyline Drive is building quite a reputation. These are the same students, remember, who did carpentry, welding and other work to craft the delightful “W” lamppost snowflakes that first alighted downtown in 2010.

“Integro,” whose name means “to begin anew,” is the commissioned design of artist William R. Kleinedler. He is a retired Army staff sergeant who went through his own eight months of healing after being injured by an improvised explosive device in Iraq.

Mr. Kleinedler, of New Braintree, was connected to Worcester Tech after he asked around about where he could borrow specialized tools such as a plasma cutter.

As it turned out, he “borrowed” more than he bargained for, as students in sheet metal, welding, drafting and machine tool technology actually helped him construct the piece. The artist was pointed their way after speaking with Kyle J. Brenner, director of career and technical education for Worcester public schools.

The lucky pairing between a pleased artist and eager students won’t be known by most veterans and others who view the sculpture in Boston. They’ll simply see an inspired work of beauty — wrought just right by young hands in Worcester.